The flooded dragon podcast planet of Freon
A year after having it loaned to me, I have finally picked up and read “Eldest” by Christopher Paolini. This book is the sequel to “Eragon”, which I found to be enjoyable, if lacking in originality. “Eldest” is more of the same; I’d suggest it to any reader I know, with the caveat that they shouldn’t expect anything mind-blowing. The writing is good, and the characters are interesting, which is more than many fantasy books can claim.
Still, one day I want to read a high fantasy novel where the elves are short-lived and highly industrial, if not technological. Perhaps the ancient lost civilization that left behind all the ruins and dungeons could be one of humans, or lizard men, or Things We Barely Understand instead of the freakin’ elves again. And hey, how about hippie, type B dwarves that live simple lives of farming and woodcarving? You get my drift, here?
We lived through Ernesto – our house was never in danger, though I did lose power halfway through my morning webcomic troll. Driving to work was a dumb idea – two different blocks were flooded, and when the tires stop making the “zzziiiisssshhh” noise and begin making the “blubble-blurble-splep-blobble” noise, the water’s too deep – but dumb luck saved me, and the drive home was a little better. The yard looks a bit battered, though.
The International Astronomers Union voted last week that Pluto isn’t a full planet, but a “dwarf planet”. They did this in part because Pluto’s moon, Charon, is almost the same size as Pluto and might have deserved planet status; and a more distant body in our solar system, “2003 UB313”, is even larger and might have been awarded the same privileges. “2003 UB313” has been nicknamed “Xena” by its discoverer, and no stuffy astronomers’ group is going to sit still for “Planet Xena”. (The nickname is unofficial, but may well stick.) (And yes, Xena has a satellite… Gabrielle.)
Pluto, Charon, Xena, and the asteroid Ceres all qualify for “dwarf planet” status under the IAU’s new rules. I say Pluto still deserves the love, and we all know what’s a planet and what’s an asteroid, whatever they say. Manned mission to Planet Xena!
Podcast recommendations of the day: Taverncast, for WoW players; not only is the material useful and interesting, but it’s presented in a very light-hearted, entertaining manner by the hosts. Also, Geek Counterpoint, for those with a science bent; much drier in tone, but still well-presented and interesting – my interest was caught by the episode on inflatable spacecraft. Seriously.
The Hyundai is very mad at me right now. The dash clock and stereo are cutting out intermittently (and separately), the a/c has stopped working (and with it, my defogger, which has made driving in the rain interesting), and my temperature gauge is running high. Given how much of the car is factory-sealed, that may mean a trip to the dealership. 🙁
I may finally attend a NekoCon this year, given that it’s right on my doorstep and all. Thinking about it.
Operator 7-G, please contact me immediately
Robotech.com is offering a large-scale transforming Garland motorbike toy from one of my favorite anime flicks, Megazone 23. And at the low-low bargain price of $99.95! Sigh. Pout.
I have just finished clearing out a large section of my office – yes, you can actually see floor now – so that Rain can move her computer in here. We need the room, ’cause we’ve offered the spare bedroom to our friend Starr, who really needed a place to sleep while wrapping up nursing school. The help with expenses will be nice, but what clinched the deal was her offer to do dishes for us!
Large rant coming about gamers who think they are the center of the fan universe. Film at 11 (of one day or another.)
Icon for somewhat lame meme
Funny thing is, I do have lots to talk about. Bad news is that I’m far too busy helping our new roommate move in to actually sit and write much of a post.
I did have time the other day to throw this together in Photoshop, but I’m thinking that it’s really not funny enough to use as one of my icons.
The image of an extremely large boa constrictor wrapped around Starscream just didn’t work as an LJ icon, either.
tzel’s looking a little blue
Sometime this week, I must enter the World of Warcraft and seek Telf.
One of the many podcasts I’ve been listening to is an hour of house music from a French website at www.rlpmix.com (actually from iTunes, but anyway). Two amusing things; the Starfleeters in western Virginia used to know a guy with the initials RLP, and it’s fun to think of him surfacing as a French DJ; also, when he reads his website on the audio, he pronounces it “DOO-bleh-vay DOO-bleh-vay DOO-bleh-vay dot r-l-p-mix dot com.” “W” and “J” – the two awkward late-comers to the Roman alphabet.
I do think that “web.domain.com” would have been much easier to say in daily discussions than “www.domain.com”. Too late now.
Anime Geek Foolishness
Every time the radio mentions that Fiona Apple will soon be performing here, I worry that she’ll go Rampant and try to steal the SDF-1 from its reconstruction dock in Norfolk Harbor.
Please state the nature of the medical emergency
Friday morning’s “gas pain” turned out to be diverticulitis (does involve the lower G.I., so the Wikipedia link may squick some folks). After a day of agony, I ended up in the ER until 4 a.m. where the doctor was thankfully able to diagnose me immediately. I’m on antibiotics for the next few weeks, and I have to give up peanuts only months after finally learning to like them.
My system’s still a bit rattled from the fever and pain. I’d rather stay home another day or seven, but duty calls.
Bringing new meaning to the term “press gang”
Friday at work, we had “Dress Like a Pirate Day” in an attempt to do “Talk Like a Pirate Day” one better.
The whole gallery of pictures is behind the link. It was a lot of fun… we certainly flummoxed the shop owner for a few moments.
My co-workers were amazed to learn that I can throw together a passable pirate outfit from my closets with 30-minutes notice. Thank you SF and fantasy fandom 🙂
(Oh, and I did finally find some Harlock desktops to throw onto the screens of the two stations I use.)
Arr.
Tomorrow is Dress Like A Pirate Day at work, in late celebration of the new Disney movie.
I was intending to let my computer be part of the theme, until I found out what an incredible scarcity of Captain Harlock wallpaper / desktops exists on the web.
Bleh.
Radio over Wires
I’m very addicted to podcasts now: working through the backlog of the cool ones I’ve found is really helping me get through my work day.
It’s all the fault of the Fragile Gravity podcast at http://unseenllc.com/feed/glidepath.xml – of course I’d want to hear what kittykatya and impink were up to.
Then, as I realized that one show per week or so wasn’t going to feed my addiction properly, I stumbled upon World of Warcast – a fun, casual hour of lvl 40s and 50s talking and goofing off about Blizzard’s little life-sucker.
A link from an astronomy website drew me to Slacker Astronomy, where you don’t have to be a hardcore space geek, but you do have to have a goofy sense of humor.
And now, well, I’m hooked. The iTunes music store offers hundreds of free podcasts, ranging from language lessons in Japanese to video podcasts of French Maids explaining XML coding. You don’t have to have iTunes or even an MP3 player – there’s lots of software which’ll let you subscribe and listen from your desktop machine.
So that’s the morning post; I need to finish loading Steve Jackson Games’ new Fnordcast onto the iPod and leave for work…
You think Spock had problems?
A few people who have seen “Superman Returns” have wondered in my presence about a certain plot point from the movie. I don’t want to say too much more about this plot point, for it could be considered a bit of a spoiler, but here is an article by a Famous Science Fiction Writer on the subject.
(The article doesn’t help, but is kinda funny anyway.)
EDIT: Okay, two comments here have suggested that it is a BIG spoiler. So, really. Don’t click the link unless you have seen the movie or don’t care about spoilers.
